Species / Ball python / Yellow Belly
Yellow Belly
Het Ivory · Bling Yellow Belly · Flare · Goblin · Orange Belly
incomplete dominantYellow Belly complextext read from the page's sources
First produced: Amir Soleymani, proven 1999 (animal spotted ~1997); Ivory first made by The Snake Keeper
Complex: Yellow Belly. Complex membership is as reported by breeders and community lists; most memberships have not been proven in a lab.
How to recognise it
| Head | Light tan-brown crown with a 'head stamp': a patch of lighter scales toward the back of the crown. |
|---|---|
| Pattern | Normal layout, but with strong flames rising from the belly edge up between the alien heads. |
| Colour | Richer, more saturated colour; the black of a normal looks tanned/browned. |
| Belly | The key marker: clean, patternless centre with a checkered or motley edge where belly meets flank; occasional spotting. Despite the name the belly is not necessarily yellow. |
| Eyes | Not yet verified against a source. |
| With age | Not yet verified against a source. |
Rows marked "not yet verified" are withheld until they can be cited. Inheritance is the trade's usage unless a source below states it.
Visible in a single copy?
This IS the heterozygous form, but it is a subtle one. Morphpedia itself notes heterozygotes can be difficult to tell from normal. Use belly edge + flames + head stamp together; one marker alone is not reliable, since some normals have clean bellies or flaming.
Super form (two copies)
Ivory (Super Yellow Belly)
Not yet verified against a source.
Not yet verified against a source.
Easily confused with
Normal
Normal: patterned or smudged belly, no checkered edge, little flank flaming, darker even crown. Yellow Belly: clean centre with checkered margin, flames between blotches, light crown with head stamp.
Normal: patterned or smudged belly, no checkered edge, little flank flaming, darker even crown. Yellow Belly: clean centre with checkered margin, flames between blotches, light crown with head stamp.
Enchi
Enchi also brightens flanks, but reduces and bands the pattern and blushes the head; it does not give the checkered belly edge.
Enchi also brightens flanks, but reduces and bands the pattern and blushes the head; it does not give the checkered belly edge.
Photos
No photo yet. We only show photos submitted by members, sellers' photos used with permission, or photos with a verified free licence and credit, never borrowed or AI-generated images. The sources below link to reference galleries.
Health and welfare
No gene-linked issue reported in the sources read. That is not proof there is none.
DNA test
A test is listed for Rare Genetics Inc: Yellowbelly (list read 2026-11-13 on MorphMarket's page for that lab). All listed tests
Sources for this page
- Morphpedia: Yellow Belly
https://morphmarket.com/morphpedia/ball-pythons/yellow-belly - MorphMarket Community: Allelic Morphs aka Complexes (list last updated Sept 2022)
https://community.morphmarket.com/t/allelic-morphs-aka-complexes-ball-pythons/113